Wings began with Y and Z

For over two decades, Yzerman was Detroit hockey

For over two decades, Yzerman was Detroit hockey

July 05, 2006|HELENE ST. JAMES Detroit Free Press

DETROIT -- For years, teammates sat in the same locker room as Steve Yzerman and watched this superman. Like the man of steel, Yzerman seemed invulnerable, able to eclipse the limits of human endurance. In Yzerman's case, able to will his team to victory. Yzerman's legend was nurtured through a 22-season career that befits a man who will go down as one of hockey's greats: three Stanley Cups, an Olympic gold medal, and trophies that recognize his immense contribution to the Red Wings. "He's meant everything to this team," goaltender Chris Osgood said. "Just from watching him from afar and being here, it's his presence in the room. He always makes the team better. Guys just naturally work harder when they're around him. His leadership will be missed huge." Yzerman announced his retirement Monday, nine weeks to the day after he played his last game. The finale was vintage Yzerman: He had a torn oblique muscle and shouldn't have played, but his team trailed the Oilers, 3-2, in the first-round series, so he gave it a go. The Wings lost the game, but not before Yzerman set up a goal, squeezing one last play out of his worn hands. That is a snapshot of Yzerman on the ice. But a man isn't defined solely by his work, and off the ice, there is an Yzerman that has been far less visible. He has, by many accounts, a bitingly funny wit, one that can leave teammates howling with delight. "If there are some conversations going on, chances are, if he's got something funny or something sarcastic to say, he's going to throw it out there," forward Kris Draper said. "He's quick. He's witty." Yzerman appears stoic, but those close to him see so much more. Take what happened in 1986, when he was named the youngest captain in franchise history at the tender age of 21. "It was sort of a shock to him, but he handled it with class," former teammate Gerard Gallant said. "He was pretty excited, but he didn't show it much -- that's just the way Steve is. He doesn't show a lot of emotion." Throughout his career, Yzerman often kept his counsel private. He was almost traded twice -- to Buffalo in 1992-93 by Bryan Murray, and again in the summer of 1995, shortly after the Wings were swept by New Jersey in the Stanley Cup finals. Scotty Bowman, then serving in a role as coach and director of player personnel, nearly shipped Yzerman to Ottawa. But fans undid the deal: During the 1995-96 home opener, the crowd at Joe Louis Arena gave Yzerman a thunderous standing ovation -- and any thought of ever again dealing Yzerman died that night. For 22 seasons, teammates watched Yzerman prepare for games, watched how he played even when he needed painkillers to do so. Just being around him, day in and day out, had an impact. "You walk around the dressing room, guys have become better players, better people from playing with Stevie as long as we have," Draper said. "That's probably the ultimate compliment for Stevie, is how he's basically led this hockey club. He's just been so reliable." In 1982-83, the Red Wings had 2,500 season-ticket holders. The team was terrible -- 21 victories that season, 21 the season before, 19 in 1980-81 . Into this mess came, on draft day in 1983, a young man named Stephen Gregory Yzerman. Jimmy Devellano, then the general manager of the team and now a senior vice president, originally wanted Pat LaFontaine, but when the Islanders took LaFontaine with the third overall selection, Devellano went with Yzerman, and a legend began to take shape. The two men joked shortly after the draft about their goals, about how Yzerman would play until he was 35 and win five Stanley Cups. But back then, Devellano wasn't even sure Yzerman would start the following season with the Wings. He wasn't imposing physically, and there was a general inclination that he needed another year of junior hockey. "But two shifts into camp," Devellano said, "and we knew he was our best player." By all rights, Yzerman was a superstar of the game. But his prime coincided with Wayne Gretzky's superhuman performances for the Edmonton Oilers, and then with the equally amazing achievements of Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins. While Yzerman was a lone star in Detroit, Gretzky and Lemieux had supporting casts that propelled their teams to one championship after another. Fair or not, Yzerman played in their shadows. "I think we've had the pleasure of watching one of the greatest players to ever play the game," general manager Ken Holland said. "I think that, unfortunately for Steve, when he was really offensive, in the early '90s, the Pittsburgh Penguins were the best team in the league with Ron Francis and Jaromir Jagr and Paul Coffey, and in the '80s, Gretzky was there putting out the points with (Mark) Messier and Coffey and (Jari) Kurri, and their teams were winning." It took until the mid-'90s before the Wings took shape as a team that could challenge for the Stanley Cup. In 1993, Scotty Bowman arrived, and though the 1994 playoffs ended with a first-round loss to San Jose, it was considered a stunning upset because this no longer was the team nicknamed The Dead Wings or, worse still, The Dead Things. Bowman had a great impact on the Wings, but on no one more so than Yzerman. It was under Bowman's reign that Yzerman morphed from a supernaturally gifted offensive player into one of the best two-way forwards ever. "I think it evolved because the team got better," Bowman said. "When he first was there, he was the whole team and he was a scoring machine. Then as he got older, the team added some ingredients, so he didn't have to score all the time. He became a very good defensive player. He knew what he had to do to improve the team. Somebody had to do it. That's basically what he did. He was very focused on playing two-way hockey. It hurt him production-wise, but he'd produced before. I think he knew what he was doing." Through the years, Yzerman has become the team's all-time leader in playoff scoring. He ranks first in assists. He scored 692 goals, and his 1,755 points rank sixth all-time. He racked up milestone after milestone, and those around him rarely knew it until it happened. "For a guy who's accomplished so many things, he never talks about it," Osgood said. "When he gets records during games, you don't even realize it until they announce it over the loudspeakers in the arena. He's never really been a guy who's thought about what he's accomplished -- what the team has done has been more important to him. It shows what type of character player he is and the leader that he is." Yzerman's leadership changed through the years, as he did. But long after he ceased to be the best player, teammates responded to him. "He's not a rah-rah guy like a lot of people may think a captain should be, but he definitely calms people down," forward Kirk Maltby said. "You come in after a bad period or a good period or tied going into overtime, he definitely can keep a dressing room focused. A lot of guys can say the right things, but he also goes out and does them. As a player watching him, especially later on in his career with all the injuries he's had, and the pain he's had to play through, you just see what he's done through the injuries, you know you have to go out there and do it yourself." Yzerman came to the Wings as a gangly youth blooming with promise. In 23 years, he grew far greater than his slim, 5-foot-11 frame, performing feats worthy of a superhero. Everyone has a tale to tell about him -- with Draper, it's the 2002 playoffs, with Babcock, it's seeing how Yzerman has touched the lives of children worn down by cancer. To Yzerman himself, it's been two decades of highlights. "I did the best I could," he said at his exit news conference. "I tried hard, I competed hard. I feel like there's nothing left in the tank, and I'm comfortable with that."